The Archon of Darkness: a Zhongli x Oc Story

Part Three: Anger Unleashed

"Wait.. The first person you fell in love with??" Jean asks confused by his statement. Zhongli nods and then goes to speak but is stopped by Jean who then says "If she was your first love then surley you've had more right?" Zhongli shocked by this question looks at her and says bluntly

"No. She has been my only love throughout all these years.. When she came into my life I was confused as to what the feeling of love was, she showed me that I had a purpose more than protecting Liyue and being who I was... She is the reason I am still here, because I believed throughout every day she was away that I would find her and we could be together again..." He trails off and Jean who looks at him clearly shocked at his Straightforward answer, she places a hand on his to show him that she understands what he is saying. They spend the next hour talking before Jean excuses herself to go to bed as it was a long day for everyone. Zhongli says he will stay here a little while longer to look after the sleeping female. He takes off his shoes and changes into something more comfortable, a loose button up white shirt with a pair of comfortable brown pants with gold accents, he takes his hair out of the Ponytail that it is in and he brushes it. He climbs into the bed beside the peacefully sleeping Astra and he opens a book proceeding to read it while he waits for the woman laying next to him to wake up.

Five Hours later

As Zhongli realizes the time he goes to get out of the bed to retrieve breakfast for the both of them, but he feels something wrapped around his waist preventing him from leaving the bed. He looks down to see Astra holding onto him clearly still asleep, this causes a smile to form on Zhongli's lips as he silently whispers "Quite the snuggler aren't you My Star..." He looks back out the window at the Sun rays that are beaming through the window and he smiles. He then feels the snuggly grip around his waist tighten as he looks down he sees that she is having a nightmare, he places one of his hands on her forehead and gently starts stroking her white hair, he sees that this is calming her down so he continues. Shortly after she wakes up, she feels a familiar presence next to her and she looks up slightly to see Zhongli looking at her, seeming calm and peaceful to which point she sits straight up and ends up falling off the bed to which she groans rubbing her head after she smacked it on the ground, Zhongli is immediately next to her picking her up bridal style and placing her back onto the bed. She looks at him and sees his heartwarming smile causing her to do something she never thought she'd have the guts to do. She kissed him, it was a light and soft peck but once she realized she did it she turned redder than a tomato on a hot summers day swiftly backing up a bit. This causes Zhongli to chuckle a bit, brushing a bit of hair out of her face he scooches closer to her and leans over to her to where there foreheads are touching as Zhongli says softly "I missed you so much Zeriah... I'm so Happy your safe..." His amber eyes look into her Reddish Magenta once that seemingly haven't changed a bit from the last time he saw them, he then kisses her, softly yet full of meaning Zeriah who is shocked by his actions ends up kissing him back but with a bit of passion behind it, as if she's waited for so long to do this.

After breaking the kiss Zeriah looks into Zhongli's amber eyes and says "I missed you too.. My Morax..." This causes Zhongli to hug her, not tightly but enough to show how much those words meant to him how much she means to him. She giggles a bit and hugs back before her stomach growls a bit causing them both to chuckle and they agree to go get something to eat. Halfway to the Dining hall Zhongli stops causing Zeriah to look at him confused. He then holdout a small box similar to the one she saw back when he gave her the first ring, something she will never forget. "Morax..? What's wrong..-" before she can finish her sentence she sees him a blushing mess as he holds the box out to her, she walks over to him and gently takes the box showing that she is there, she opens it and Zhongli says

"I saw it before you passed out.. Jean handed it to me before she left last night as she was growing tired and needed rest from the fight we went through..-" he's stopped abruptly by a kiss, a soft and long kiss. She then breaks the kiss and takes the ring out and looks at it, seeing the Rainbow Opal ring she wears it with the other one on the Adventurene necklace she has on that Xiao gave her as a sign of friendship. She has another ring on this necklace as well, one she vowed to never take off. The Emerald ring Zhongli first gave to her, he notices the other ring on the necklace and he smiles, he holds her close kissing her forehead showing the affection that he wished to give her before she was taken. They then walk hand in hand to the dining hall, as they enter all eyes turn to them, the white haired girl in a full black dress, her white hair and Reddish Magenta eyes scan the crowd and she sees Jean, Lisa, Aether, Paimon, and Lumine all sitting together and they all seem... Happy. The duo go and obtain some food and they go to sit with the group of people they recognize and they sit down next to each other. Lumine looks at Zeriah and notices the smile adorning her features, the way the sun catches her face making her absolutely gorgeous. Zhongli looks at Lumine then back at Zeriah and sighs knowing what's about to happen as Zeriah was Lumines Subordinate the day before.

"Astra remember our Contract..?" Lumine asks mischievously Zeriah looks at Lumine and nods but her eyes darken as she now looks a little mad as Lumine says "It would be a shame if YOU let it happen, the consequences of breaking the contract. You know what they are, would you like me to tell the others what you have done for me?" Lumine now looking at Zeriah full of fury they get rushed outside to a area outside of Mondstat where they can battle freely. Lumine bringing out her fully powered Electro Blade and Zeriah bringing out her scythe Lumine says "You will always be below me, Astra" before charging at Zeriah who dodges each attach swiftly and effectively, and as Lumine goes to release her ultimate the sky darkens unexpectedly, shocking Lumine as she looks at the woman in front of her Full form Unleahed, as is her anger and Zeriah shouts at Lumine

"You Took EVERYTHING From Me!! You Think I Will Follow you?! Your WRONG!!!" As Zeriah finishes her sentence she lunges at Lumine her vision Imbuing her Sythe with Insane levels of power, she then managed to slash at Lumine making a deep wound in the Girls back stretching down to the bottom of her hamstring causing her to fall onto the floor Lumine looking at Zeriah who's anger is clear and her wings Somehow broken of their chains gets embraced from behind shocking her out of her full form. Lumine looks at Zeriah and says in a confused tone

"That shouldn't be possible you- How did you break free of Chains built by the Archons themselves?!" Lumine angrily looks at Zeriah who then calmly states

"It's Easy to break free of Chains when the chains aren't meant to be used on an Archon" she then turns around and leaps into the air, her wings still out she takes off to Liyue where the Geo Archon is supposed to be. That statement left Lumine in shock, she didn't know that her subordinate was an Archon and if she did she would've done so much more chaos. But as she watches the two leave she accepts her defeat and makes Astra the new leader of the abyss order.